User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/New Super Mario Bros. Review
Hey there. It's that video game review man again, back to do what I always do here. Video game critique. Ooh, fun. Anyways, this time I'm here to talk about none other than a Mario game - this time I'm reviewing New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS. Let's a go (now that was DEFINITELY unexpected.... not). For the development history, all you really need to know is that this game was originally conceived as a GBA game. It was meant to be Super Mario Advance 5, which would presumably have been a remake of the original Super Mario Bros. However, this idea was scrapped in favor of making the game an original 2D Mario title, and development was shifted to the more powerful DS. Nowadays, with four New Super Mario Bros. games out, this one isn't that fondly looked back upon because of how similar it is to the others. However, at its time of release in 2006, this game was praised to heaven and back, sold millions of copies, and was heralded as a modern classic. Strange to think that nowadays, huh? That was mostly because it was the first original 2D Mario game since Super Mario Land 2, and since 2D Mario games are by far the most popular games in the series, it makes sense that this game would be as beloved as it was. As for me, I originally got this game in around 2008 when I purchased my old DS Lite. It was one of the two Mario games I got for the system (the other being Super Mario 64 DS). I wanted these because of how much I enjoyed New Super Mario Bros. Wii (which was, in case you don't know, my first Mario game). I sank tons of hours into the game, and eventually ended up beating it. It was one of my favorite games back then. In the following months, my parents downloaded several of the classics onto our Wii, including Super Mario Bros., both the Japanese and American Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and of course, the game I wanted the most - the original N64 version of Super Mario 64. We also had Super Mario Galaxy 2, and eventually got the first one. These were all games that I enjoyed, but I was never really that skilled to beat any of them. Soon enough, however, my focus shifted away from Mario to... ugh... Pokemon. Ok, before you get angry, the Pokemon games on DS are good JRPGs, but you won't believe how many hours I spent playing those games. My point is that I kind of forgot about Mario, and this included New Super Mario Bros. Eventually, I forgot about Nintendo and platformers in general. In 2017, I jumped in to retro game collecting, achieved 100% completion in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, and finished the Galaxy games all for the first time. I also beat Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario Land 2 for my first time ever. These experiences rejuvinated my love for platformers, particularly collectathons and sidescrollers. This refound love for 2D Mario led me to play the classic Donkey Kong Country and Sonic the Hedgehog games, which I also loved. This led me to try some of my childhood games from my modern Nintendo systems. This included New Super Mario Bros., which I just beat for the first time since the last time I did so, which was sometime in the early 2010s. With that, it's time to discuss my thoughts on this game. Is it as good as I remember it being, or is it just as bad as Lost Levels? Let's find out. Story This game has pretty much the same story as every other main-series Mario game - Princess Peach gets kidnapped, and Mario has to save her. This time it's closer to Super Mario Sunshine, because Bowser Jr. captures Peach instead of Bowser. Besides that, however, it's still more or less the same thing. This isn't really a problem though, as story isn't what I care about in a platforming game. Graphics For an early-life DS title, this game doesn't look half bad. The backgrounds are colorful and detailed, the color palette is wide and well-utilized, and even though the environments are recycled from Super Mario Bros. 3, they're still visually engaging. Despite the graphical quality of the game's environments... the characters aren't nearly as appealing. Some of them are 3D models ripped right out of Super Mario 64 DS, while others are pre-rendered sprites, and the two just clash. The DS never really had amazing visuals to begin with, as they just resemble lower-quality PS1 graphics. The visuals of New Super Mario Bros. are no exception, with all the aliasing and jaggies on the character models. They don't look awful, though, just unimpressive by today's standards. Soundtrack This game actually has a good soundtrack. It's the typical catchy Mario music we're used to. My favorite track has to be the Beach Theme. One annoying thing is those infamous "BAHs," which got on my nerves after a while. However, this issue is minor in the grand scheme of things. This game still has a good OST. Gameplay Of course, this game is a 2D sidescroller. It borrows a lot of elements from Super Mario World in particular with its relatively nonlinear world map, secret exits, and powerup reserve. Hell, it even has the jump sound from that game. The level design is more or less within the quality standard of the games that preceded it. It's not as basic as the original Super Mario Bros. could be at times, while not descending to the awfulness of Lost Levels. However, I find that the level design in this game is nowhere near as refined as that of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and even Super Mario Land 2. It's overall not terrible, but it feels like a step down from those games. This is mostly because of its initially mind-numbing simplicity, but by the end of the game... it's for a completely different reason. The controls are also something I'm mixed on. The on-foot controls feel really nice, and Mario is neither too floaty nor too heavy. However, some aspects are bad. One move added was the ability to wall jump like in the 3D games, but it works nowhere near as well as it did in those games. Half the time, the damn thing doesn't work, and it is pretty finnicky when it does work. The worst control issue, though, isn't the wall jumping. No, it is definitely the swimming controls. Good God, these have to be the absolute worst swimming controls in any 2D Mario game. They're very slippery and unresponsive, making basic navigation a royal pain in the ass in the water levels. Thankfully, there aren't many of them, but when there is one, it's often a very annoying level. The ice physics are also up there. Nobody likes ice physics, as they often only serve as an artificial increase in difficulty. In this game, they're particularly bad. Any level that features icy floors is a massive pain in the ass to beat because of this, just because of how damn slippery they made Mario control on ice. Overall, though, the gameplay of New Super Mario Bros. is solid despite these flaws. It's not anywhere near as good as the classic 2D entries, but it's still a good game in its own right. Difficulty This is by no means a hard game. It's even easier than Super Mario Land 2, which was already on the easy side. However, I find it to be the slightest bit harder than New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It is a more enjoyable game than Wii because of this, but unfortunately, some of this difficulty comes from unintended reasons. A majority of this game's levels are easy, but there are a few every now and then that are harder. These levels, however, are more often than not annoying instead of actually challenging. I've already mentioned the water and ice controls, which make levels such as 4-2 or 8-3 maddening slogs that are not fun at all to play. In addition to this, a few stages like 6-3 and almost every level in World 8 feature cheap enemy placement that leads to many deaths which feel like the game's fault rather than a lack of skill on your own part. That brings me to my final point - World 8. I've said that World 7 from SMB3 was my most hated World in a 2D Mario game, but after having replayed SMB3 recently and running in to the World 5 Airship glitch (therefore making me play World 7), it wasn't as terrible as I made it out to be and was instead just a minor annoyance. World 8 in NSMB, however, takes the absolute cake. This World is way longer, features tons more bullshit enemy placement, and has levels with setpieces I hate, such as that damn rising lava. Obviously, these levels were not designed around the controls, which as good as they feel, are still somewhat slippery when compared to other games... and this is a bad thing when you have to be precise. The final level is also pretty annoying, with a few Thwomps in unfair spots and that stupid looping level bullshit from the original Super Mario Bros. that requires you to take the correct path through the castle. The final boss is overall well-designed, but is extremely easy to die to, which sends you back to the beginning of the looping level section. Overall though, New Super Mario Bros. is still well-designed enough for me to consider this a quality title. Despite its flaws, this game is still enjoyable in its own right. Conclusion In conclusion, New Super Mario Bros. is a good game, one I'd actually argue is underrated. It certainly does many more things right than it does wrong. However, I don't consider this anywhere near as good as the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES, and the masterpieces known as Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario Land 2 : Six Golden Coins. It also doesn't compare to some of my favorite non-Mario sidescrollers, such as Sonic 2, Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi's Island, and especially Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Donkey Kong Country 2 : Diddy's Kong Quest. I do like a bit more than the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country 3 and the original Sonic the Hedgehog, however, because it's a lot more consistently well-designed. Similarly to Sonic 2, NSMB really only has bad parts towards the end. It's also better than NSMBW because of its slightly higher challenge. While nowhere near the best Mario game, it's still a pretty good one. As for what comes next... I'm really unsure at this point. I still want to beat Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Advance, the rest of the All-Stars remakes (besides SMB3), Lost Levels, and Super Mario Land. I also want to finish off Spyro the Dragon, the Crash Bandicoot games, and Pac-Man World. I can now get started on the Ratchet and Clank trilogy, Jak and Daxter : The Precursor Legacy, and Sonic Mega Collection as well, since I picked up a PS2 memory card. Other games on my bucket list are Super Castlevania IV, Super Metroid, Starfox, Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Tooie, Pac-Man World 2, and Luigi's Mansion. I'll get to Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Disney's Aladdin, and Disney's The Lion King someday, but all of those games are supposedly brutally difficult, so those reviews will take a while to come out for sure. I'm also considering Sonic CD, Sonic Classic Collection, Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, and the Sonic Adventure games. I may also review several XBOX 360 and PC games just for the sake of variety, as I typically look at platformers and stuff on retro consoles. I might cover my old Call of Duty games for shits and giggles, and one PC game I'll for sure take a look at will be Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, as it's one of my all-time favorite PC games. I may even do a movie review for the hell of it (if I even feel like it... which I probably won't, let's be honest). And... that's still not it, since I picked up Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D recently, in addition to Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart Double Dash. One more thing really quick - another game I will eventually take a look at is Sonic Mania. I've been on a mild Classic Sonic kick as of recent, so one day I looked on the Steam Store to see how much Sonic games cost just for the hell of it. I saw Sonic Mania's price, and my jaw almost dropped to the floor. It just so happened that Steam had a sale on all Sonic games right then, which lasted from April 28th until May 6th. I was able to get Mania for only a few dollars as opposed to the $20 they normally charge. This sale seriously couldn't have come at a better time. I'm looking forward to playing Mania, but I haven't done so yet because I haven't had the time to. If my next review isn't any of the games listed above, it will for sure be Sonic Mania. My main question is, how will it compare to the other Sonic games I've played? I'm expecting to like it more than Sonic 1 and maybe Sonic 2, but I doubt it will top Sonic 3&K. I could be completely wrong, but that's what I think right now. Whew, that long-as-hell conclusion is finally out of the way. Whatever I talk about next, I'll see you all then. Goodbye. Category:Blog posts